Pakistan-Backed Terrorism Forced Kashmiri Pandit Exodus, Report Details

"The exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley in early 1990 is often described as a tragic by-product of instability. That characterisation understates both intent and agency. The departure of the community followed a deliberate pattern of Pakistan-backed terrorist violence, explicit threats, and sustained intimidation, aimed at making continued residence untenable for a specific population," Ashu Mann, an Associate Fellow at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies, wrote in an opinion piece for Eurasia Review.

What began in late 1989 and early 1990 was not a sudden collapse of order but a terror campaign that depended on selective killings and fear as instruments of displacement. As Pakistan-sponsored terrorism increased in Kashmir Valley, violence was directed strategically with victims chosen for their visibility and symbolic value like lawyers, teachers, journalists, officials, and community figures. A significant number of those who were attacked were Kashmiri Pandits, a small minority who had presence in education, administration, and public life.

The Eurasia Review piece stated, "These killings were not collateral to a broader insurgency. They were purpose-built acts of terror, designed to signal reach and impunity. Each assassination carried a message far beyond the individual victim: identity itself had become a liability. This is how terrorism achieves mass impact without mass violence. It communicates through fear. The assassinations were reinforced by open intimidation.

"Threatening slogans appeared on walls. Names were circulated. Loudspeaker announcements and anonymous warnings declared that certain communities were no longer welcome. Crucially, the threats were identity-specific. They did not accuse individuals of wrongdoing. They asserted collective illegitimacy. For Kashmiri Pandits, this collapsed the boundary between personal safety and group vulnerability. Remaining in the Valley ceased to be a matter of courage or politics; it became a matter of survival. By January 1990, fear was no longer speculative. It was ambient and credible."

During the 1990s, the terrorist groups did not operate on their own but their training, arms, financing, and ideological direction came from across the Line of Control. Driving Kashmiri Pandits out of the Valley narrowed plural character of Kashmir, weakened institutions that had employees from the community, and showcased Pakistan-backed terror networks capacity to reshape society through fear.

Communities do not leave their ancestral homes due to isolated incidents but they leave when terror becomes systematic and unpunished. Selective killings, public threats, and the absence of accountability during early 1990s convinced many Kashmiri Pandit families that staying in Valley carried risk.

While leaving their homes, families carried documents and keys expecting to return to Kashmir after the terror subsided. However, Kashmiri families were unable to return and after leaving Valley, people lost their jobs, faced disruption in education, lived in relief camps and cultural dislocation followed.

"The displacement of Kashmiri Pandits must be remembered not only for its human cost, but for the mechanism that produced it. People did not leave because the future was uncertain. They left because Pakistan-backed terrorism made the present unlivable," the Eurasia Review article detailed.

- IANS